Share Food Waste

Search Results

Welcome to ReFED

ReFED was formed to build a different future, where food waste prevention is recognized as an untapped strategy that can save resources, create jobs, alleviate hunger, conserve water, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions — all while stimulating a new multi-billion dollar market opportunity.

The aggregate financial benefit to society (consumers, businesses, governments, and other stakeholders) minus all investment and costs per ton of food waste diverted. It shows the amount of benefit received per ton of reduction and is calculated as the Economic Value per Ton.

The multi-billion dollar food waste problem

Every year, American consumers, businesses, and farms spends $218 billion a year, or 1.3% of GDP, growing, processing, transporting, and disposing food that is never eaten. That’s 52 million tons of food sent to landfill annually, plus another 10 million tons that is discarded or left unharvested on farms. Meanwhile, one in seven Americans is food insecure.

Food waste consumes:

21%of all fresh water

19%of all fertilizer

18%of cropland

21%of landfill volume

Food wasted by weight - 63 million tons

Waste occurs throughout the supply chain, with nearly 85% occurring downstream at consumer-facing businesses and homes.

10M1M25M27M16%2%40%43%

16%2%40%43%FARMSMANUFACTURERSHOMESCONSUMER-FACINGBUSINESSES

Financial Waste - $218 Billion

The financial cost of food waste is greatest for consumers since they pay retail prices for food, while consumer-facing businesses pay lower wholesale rates.

We can reduce waste by 50%

20% in the near term

ReFED’s analysis of the top prevention, recovery, and recycling solutions shows that 13.2 million tons — over 20% of annual food waste — can be reduced over the next decade in cost-effective and scalable ways.

50% by 2030

Beyond this near-term 20% roadmap, ReFED has also identified the critical innovations, initiatives, policies, and awareness-building work required to reach the longer-term 50% reduction goal by 2030 as set by the federal government.

About ReFED

ReFED is a collaboration of over 50 business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders committed to reducing food waste in the United States. ReFED seeks to unlock new philanthropic and investment capital, along with technology, business, and policy innovation, which is projected to catalyze tens of thousands of new jobs, recover billions of meals annually for the hungry, and reduce national water use and greenhouse gas emissions. ReFED was formed in early 2015 to create The Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste, the first ever national economic study and action plan driven by a multi-stakeholder group committed to tackling food waste at scale.

ReFED’s work is made possible with generous support from the following foundations: